Navy, environmentalists clash over sonar testing

Whether sound waves hurt whales remains in dispute.

Whether sound waves hurt whales remains in dispute.

July 05, 2006

HONOLULU (AP) -- While the Navy was staging war games and hunting down "enemy" submarines with sonar off the island of Kauai two summers ago, more than 150 lost and disoriented whales were swimming chaotically in the shallows of Hanalei Bay. That mass stranding was a scene neither the Navy nor environmentalists want to see repeated as 40 ships from eight countries return to the islands this month for the world's largest international maritime war games. But the two sides agree on little else, including whether sonar was to blame for that incident. The continuing dispute highlights a deep divide over how to best protect marine mammals while safeguarding the nation's defenses. This week, environmentalists won a temporary restraining order to stop the Navy from using a high-intensity sonar during this year's Rim of the Pacific 2006 exercise, which had scheduled sonar use to start Thursday. The federal judge's order Monday came just days after the Defense Department granted the Navy a six-month exemption from certain federal laws protecting marine species to allow use of the "midfrequency active sonar." Environmentalists had argued that the exemption was aimed at circumventing their lawsuit. The Navy's failure to take a "hard look" at the environmental impact of war games was an "arbitrary and capricious" violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper wrote in granting the restraining order. Cooper ordered the two sides to meet to discuss mitigation measures in an effort to avoid further litigation. She also scheduled a hearing for July 18 on whether to replace the temporary restraining order with a preliminary injunction. Government lawyers were reviewing the ruling and the Navy will probably respond soon, said Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. The Natural Resources Defense Council, the environmental group leading the legal battle, says whales have stranded and died on beaches around the world after being exposed to high-intensity, midfrequency sonar. It says sonar can interfere with the ability of marine mammals to use their own underwater sounds to navigate, avoid predators, find food and care for their young. Joel Reynolds, council senior attorney, said this shows the Navy has to be especially careful when it uses sonar in the biologically rich water around Hawaii. "Whales and other marine life should not have to die for practice," Reynolds said. "Of course the Navy needs to train, and our lawsuit doesn't seek to prevent them from training. Our goal is simply to require them to incorporate a series of common-sense measures."